ISTOCK, ARTJAZZThe European Commission has outlined how it intends to divvy up €100 billion (about $120 billion USD) in research funding from 2021 to 2027. In documents published earlier last week (June 7), European policymakers laid out plans to dedicate a large slab to supporting research “focused around missions,” and to allow other countries, such as a post-Brexit Britain, to pay to take part in EU research programs.
Around €10 billion from the budget will be used for the new European Innovation Council, which has been set up to help to smooth the passage of basic research and technology from the lab to the marketplace. More than half of the overall budget is dedicated to what the proposal terms a “mission-oriented approach,” in which funding is allocated on the basis of desired outcome rather than research area. The outcomes are divided into five categories: health, inclusive and secure society, digital and industry, climate, energy and mobility, and food and natural resources.
Some policymakers view the new mission-driven approach as a way to make research more relevant to the public. In a statement, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas says that ...
